Cleaning vinyl - am I using this thing right???


I have owned a VPI 16.5 for a couple of years, but only in the past two months have I been (re)immersed in vinyl. Now I'm wondering just how to get rid of all that junk in the grooves. I spin each side in the 16.5 with a few drops of RR Vinyl Wash, then use the VPI brush to spread the drops out and hopefully disloge the junk. Then I run two revolutions with the vaccuum on and repeat for the other side.

The problem is that there are STILL pretty fair ticks and pops, and sometimes I can actually see the junk. It just doesn't get the junk out (and neither does the Hunt fibre brush). I *thought* I was using the VPI per directions - is there some other secret handshake necessary to get these things cleaner?
blw

Showing 6 responses by marakanetz

...you can also use vpi for brushing as well while it rotates the record. it does have a powerful rotating motor that can be somewhat abused with limited stringth of brush or sponge pressure.
Sean, yes.
anywha you would use liquid to clean records.
a professional cleaning liquid has an antistatic effect and nothing else i believe is needed on that belalf. so why zerostat?
...instead of "shooting" you can use a drop of Last while on the turntable and spread it over the record surface. Last dries out with no residue whatsoever and takes off the statics even better than zerostat pistol.
As you've just mentioned 4yanx I also have about 1200...1400 LPs in my collection and even barely I should use Last drop on them. I keep them all in either Nitty-Gritty polylined sleves or Discwasher. Once I make a liquid cleaning with VPI the static problem is out for the good three to four months and on some of the records upto half of year(usually light pressed ones). During the three... four months especially on record that I might freequently listen the neccessity to clean becomes more freequent issue than the neccessity to simply "shoot". In case if I pull out the clean vinyl but it has statics(probably it stayed more than 4 months unplayed) I'll drop Last and spread it with the Discwasher sponge arround the surface(usually enough only to use on one side). It figures that Last will last years while Zerostat... well who knows?
4yanx, y're right! I live in NY where the humidity is always on the high level and statics arn't the issue in my case,
but i still don't wear acrylic clothes giving preference to cotton wool and leather :^)